My first step into the world of feature-length documentaries

If you've ever wondered what the role of "Media Specialist" at a traveling high school consists of, join the club. I am constantly scratching my head and looking around this ever-flexing job description to make sure I am fulfilling my real purpose. What began with a need to create video and photo content for marketing purposes expanded within the interview process to also include the creation of educational media, followed by a teaching role, archival responsibilities, and curriculum building. It gets a little bigger but a little more focused every year.
I like to think that, on top of my five ...

A little valentine for my dear, sweet Buenos Aires

Not only was this the longest time I've lived in an international city, it also happened to be a culture I fully embraced. Our impending departure pricked me in the last week, drawing up thick sentiment I could only process through creation. What could I make that would facilitate a meditation on a city that showed me a wonderful time?
Prior to our first and only asado, I splayed out on my bed in a square of warm light and began a graphic design project, one that mimicked the Ork-style posters that fit neighborhood names into their map locations. My idea ...

The irony of my lifestyle, part 5

Allow me to perplex you with a seemingly disjointed introduction to a post about travel and home.
These wet rocks where the tide has been,
Barnacled white and weeded brown
And slimed beneath to a beautiful green,
These wet rocks where the tide went down
Will show again when the tide is high
Faint and perilous, far from shore,
No place to dream, but a place to die,–
The bottom of the sea once more.
There was a child that wandered through
A giant’s empty house all day,–
House full of wonderful things and new,
But no fit place for a child to play.
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1921
Born a landlocked being, ...

Climbing Kilimanjaro in a body not built for these heights, part 1

Never have I felt so lucky to have this traveling job than I did on our attempt to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, even in the face of extreme conditions and sudden danger. This is part 1 of a 3-part series on our journey to the top of Africa and a bittersweet goodbye four years in the making.
Basecamp
Shoving 100 wet wipes into a skinny bag with 3 liters of water, rain-proof pants, and the day’s lunch isn’t easy. Though my work “uniform” often calls for a back-bending pack of gear, I felt like a fumbling mess trying to make this ...

What Alain de Botton says about the anticipation of travel

My reading comprehension is atrocious, my tracking snail-like. The only thing I remember from high school reading is Holden Caulfield's half-gray hair and his famous line with middle fingers extended toward his despised boarding school. I love to read, and I always have; I'm just not very good at it. And just as I would rather visit a new country than repeat an old one, I try not to re-read books I've tackled in the past.
Though plots and anecdotes don't stick in my memory, my impression of the book always does. That's why I remember how much I loved Alain ...

Is it important to visit the places from which your family originates?

The thin line of text atop my computer screen reminded me of a birthday. It was a realization that went down like a horse pill.
Today, my grandfather would have been 92.
He passed away as I was frantically flying home from Thailand, my work trip cut short due to his declining health. As I was suspended above the South Pacific—poorly timing my first viewing of The Descendants—he received the rare opportunity to die at an old age, surrounded by family, with a smile on his face. I missed it, but that's okay. I've been saying cautious and thoughtful goodbyes since I ...

And then I became a teacher…

I don't just mean TOEFL.
From April to October in 2011, I went from contract work in production to holding a full blown post as a high school teacher at an international school. In that time period, I didn't become more skilled or capable of performing this task. In fact, all I did was trek a bit in China, take some actors' headshots, write some articles, and move to Ecuador. I accumulated no additional training; I only did frantic research and let my years of high school and university instruction resurface, willing cream to rise from freshly settled milk.
Like a good ...

One meal inspires three months of memories in Thailand

Therapy in shopping and chopping
The fleshy innards of skinny and green eggplant made frequent protagonists on our plates at 6pm. Depending on who felt inspired (and hungry), Irene or I would sautée the slender tubes in bubbling coconut milk, soy sauce, and vinegar and cushion their final presentation with a pillow of noodles. Our meals didn't resemble the table art from our favorite reality cooking shows, but those plates held evidence of our dietary independence and resurfacing domestic skills.
Whenever I could squeeze my week out for a drop of free time, I would strap on my bike helmet, mount one ...

Mementos from a beautiful chapter in the Pacific Islands

Guatemala Guayab cold brew bottle rings top my armrest. I love the way this couch design enables my morning coffee needs. The elixir leaves a rich aftertaste that comforts me as much as the wafting smell of cinnamon and simmering tangelos from the stovetop.
Soon I will set up a buffet on the kitchen island: spicy potatoes, simple salads, kiwis and oranges galore. This is all that is left in our Auckland apartment, other than the Weetbix and Vegemite. Those can stay put.
My toes are chilly, as per usual with these cold, slick wooden floors. I do not have good posture ...

Attending my first opening night via the interwebs

Everything about my first photography exhibition was fitting.
It took place in my hometown.
It took place in the community center that could be credited for the start of my global knowledge and interest.
It was a digital display, the medium in which I create.
I displayed images in an order that reflected my life philosophy.
The images represented all the continents I've been fortunate enough to experience.
The gallery was named after my late grandfather.
I attended the opening night virtually.
My best friend did the technical support to help me experience the night from my apartment in Boston.
[caption id="attachment_10023" align="alignright" width="300"] Image courtesy of Amy Sullivan[/caption]
Thought ...

Andrew Zimmern and the Transformative Power of Travel

I've been a big time fan of Big Tony B. since the No Reservations series began in 2005. His approach to travel television and subjective, experiential authenticity abroad felt so relevant amidst a sea of market-y documentation. His conceptual thread continues to be pretty darn obvious, which makes it easy to instantly jump on the Bourdain train. But for his fellow Travel Channel host (and our Creative Council member), Andrew Zimmern, I had a harder time identifying what truly made him tick and drove him to produce what he does. Thankfully, I had a recent opportunity to hear Zimmern clarify ...

Assume the world wants you to take risks, keep learning, and do what you love

My work life and personal life don't just run in parallel; they are the same. It is as though my tree of personal life once swayed in a wind that carried with it a seed. That seed became a vine that began to wrap and envelope my tree, not in a parasitic way but in a mutually symbiotic relationship. The vine became one with my tree; they grew together and now cannot be separated without killing both.
The wind was Semester at Sea.
The seed was a love of travel.
The vine is now a career path stemming from travel (pun intended).
Oddly enough, ...

Northeast Japan still hurts from the 3/11 disaster…and you knowing that actually helps

One month ago, I was staring out of an oval window, watching the choppy water get shockingly close, and grabbing my armrest with one hand while the other hovered over the vomit bag in anticipation. Our descent into Sendai was paired with my co-worker's story of the time when a captain on his flight announced they were going to make an emergency landing in water. That didn't help.
I knew we would be okay; today was just a windy day. I still had white knuckles upon our arrival though, and I think it was less about bumpy landings than it was ...

Q&A: The truth about Semester at Sea

Send in your questions, too!
Hi Lindsay, I have just been accepted by SAS for the Spring 2011 voyage, and I randomly chanced upon your website. I am currently having a hard time trying to decide between a Semester at Sea program and a study abroad program in Berlin. I know they sound very different, but I think they appeal to different parts of me, which makes it even harder to decide. Hence, I have some questions about your experience if you don't mind answering:
When you were traveling around the ports, did you feel they were too touristy? I don't want to ...

How an e-mail scored me another travel gig

I've been vague for months about what I do now. This is the long-alluded-to explanation of my new employment and how I got it.
In this evolving career of mine, I've taken many different tactics to attracting and pursuing jobs. I've 'dressed for the job I wanted' by creating the content I like to make, hoping those who need that work get wind of mine. Years of shooting resumes and cover letters into the online abyss that is an HR email account has never wielded the results most Baby Boomers seem to believe in adamantly. That act feels like tweeting to ...

Reunited with the Fiji of my dreams in the markets of Suva

I'm thankful for magic today, the kind I'm used to in India, the kind that places two pals who have been separated for five years in the same market at the same time. What started out as an overly confident internal monologue–one repeating to the eyes that the people they see are familiar–turned out to be based on truth, on a belief that not only is the world small but Fiji even smaller, especially with Facebook and a little prior warning.
Here's what happened the moment we hit Suva.
Chance reunions
Piling our loads on our backs, Chaney, Bethany, and I started walking ...

How an e-mail scored me another travel gig

I’ve been vague for months about what I do now. This is the long-alluded-to explanation of my new employment and how I got it.

In this evolving career of mine, I’ve taken many different tactics to attracting and pursuing jobs. I’ve ‘dressed for the job I wanted’ by creating the content I like to make, hoping those who need that work get wind of mine. Years of shooting resumes and cover letters into the online abyss that is an HR email account has never wielded the results most Baby Boomers seem to believe in adamantly. That act feels like tweeting to zero followers, “I’m awesome! You know you want this, and you CAN get this!”

But for me, nothing proves more fruitful than re-engaging in this multi-faceted industry. I like travel, media, the digital realm, education, art, and a unique combination of all. While my involuntary immersion practices don’t allow for fully connected ‘field’ time with my peers, it’s in those months between travels that I reemerge a human with new ideas and the ability to answer e-mails. And on this particular instance, I truly realized how few degrees are in between me and something I would love – the same goes for you, too, I’m sure.

We are always a few friends and clicks away from a fantastic gig, apartment, love interest, and/or Kevin Bacon.

Searching for the Next Travel Media Gig

Off of Thailand and onto the next endeavor, I was looking to tune my favored creative voices, namely writing, photography, and editing. I self-taught some cool effects, showed my portfolio to an art magazine, and wrapped my mind around different trajectories for my career. I e-mailed friends who run in these same circles, informing them that I was, more than ever, flypaper for new opportunities.

Though I guess this could be true for any office worker, my title from job to job can completely change, making it hard to search for listings that would appeal to me. And this time around, the search word that applied was ‘videographer’, even though that description is painfully simplistic for what the job entailed. I e-mailed a co-worker who, when she received notice of this position without an owner, thought of me; something that involved the documentation of students in a transformative, mind-expanding, globe-trotting program quite commonly referred to as a ‘school’.

Don’t chuck this immediate connection to a perfect work fit up to just luck or timing (generally you should avoid upchucking altogether). I believe there was a lot more at play here. Again, the lesson seems to be dress for the job you want, not the job listings you would settle for.

Why I went to China

Name: THINK Global School
Description: a high school that reaches 12 countries in 12 trimesters
Company status: USA non-profit
‘Doors’ opened: September 2010
Grades: 9 & 10 for the 2011-2012 academic year, 4 levels in 2013
Class average: 15 students
Student demographic: curious and open-minded 14 & 15 year-old international students from all walks of life

I’m using ‘quotes’ on school and doors, because this is beyond most people’s concept of a school. This also isn’t a brick-and-mortar school, so the only doors these students see daily are those of whatever host city accommodations they occupy. Just knowing about this program and witnessing it for a short period of time, I’ve come to reconsider everything I’ve ever learned about formal education. That’s a powerful effect and something that frankly shocked me.

Every school year, these students from countries like Bhutan, Kurdistan, USA, and Aruba travel to three countries and base themselves in one city per trimester while engaging in the entire nation and its offerings. I got an invitation to China in order to document one of their cultural and historical trips, this one through the Yunnan province. They took part in traditional cooking, learned a disappearing language, danced with a Tibetan family, and conquered a 25 km hike through Tiger Leaping Gorge. I got the great privilege of filming and photographing all of these moments.

And from that two-week trip, I realized the school had an intense need for media beyond just documentation. The fact that not all students are native English speakers at this English instruction school makes media is an obvious solution to so many approaches in their avant-garde learning environment.

On August 1st, I became the Media Specialist for THINK Global School and will leave at the end of the month to live and travel throughout Ecuador for three months, after which we will migrate to Thailand and Germany. It will be more than documentation but engaging the students in their own creation of digital arts by teaching a class once a week. The school’s online property will be ever-bubbling with content from myself, the students, the faculty and staff, all covering the way the world is teaching us.

Here’s an excellent video on the school’s concept (not created by me…jealous!).

E-mails aligned, not stars

It pays to be open to any path, communicative with those you admire/relate to, and always display your integrity in work and life, so your network knows to think of you in the future. Trips happen fast. ‘Gigs’ fly in and out of reach based on the tiniest factors. Monster.com ads probably won’t result in your next unconventional job, but e-mailing those who do incredible things will bring you into their orbital ring of the incredible as well.

Especially in industries so small and interconnected, acting with integrity in what you do means everything for your future. I stand by every video I produce, every photograph I publish, the written prose I deliver to the populous digiverse; my most recent work always needing to be more inspired and evolved beyond its predecessors. Anyone can see my succession of digital work from past to present and know what steps I took to improve myself.

This time around, I get the great fortune of collaborating with not just the staff but the students from THINK Global School to create content that encapsulates their learning experience in ways I’ve never tried before. This will be my biggest challenge yet – and one I will further delve into with later postings.

Lindsay, I am super excited to work with you at the Think Global School this year. I’ll have to tell you about how getting this job was all through email as well, but that mine took me over a year to land. I’ll see ya on the 30th/1st in Ecuador.